Above, Rapid Pole on Calef Highway in Barrington Thursday morning, which was used to restore power to 483 customers while crews work on permanent repairs. Eversource photo 

CONCORD – As of 6 a.m. Thursday, more than 14,000 customers were without power across New Hampshire from strong winds in the region. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Gray has issued a Wind Advisory for New Hampshire, saying wind gusts Thursday could reach up to 50 mph.

The National Weather Service says strong winds continue Thursday in New Hampshire slowly subsiding by night with much cooler weather.

Wind chills in the teens above zero along the coast and interior, single digits below zero in the mountains. Not as breezy Thursday night, but gusts to 30 mph will be possible through at least midnight. Above average temperatures return for Friday, warming through the weekend and into next week, according to the National Weather Service.

Eversource spokesman William Hinkle said since the storm entered the state Wednesday night Eversource has restored power to more than 53,000 customers in New Hampshire, including approximately 22,500 by their remote system operators in fewer than five minutes using distribution automation technology like smart switches.

“The vast majority of the outages have been caused by the strong winds bringing trees and limbs down and damaging the electric system. With the potential for strong winds to persist through the afternoon and cause more tree damage to the electric system, additional outages are possible. Fallen trees and tree limbs have caused damage to the electric system in every region of the state, especially in the western region, but outages have been widespread across our New Hampshire service territory,” Hinkle said.

“In advance of the storm, we closely monitored multiple forecasts and models for several days, and secured additional crews to support our restoration efforts, with those crews and extra equipment prepositioned at our area work centers across the state so that we could respond quickly,” Hinkle said. “We’ve made great progress restoring power to our customers since the storm began and expect additional Eversource crews from Massachusetts to arrive to support our effort once restoration is complete there.”

Hinkle said crews will continue working around the clock and as quickly as safety allows until every customer has power.

State Message

“If you lose power, keep you and your family safe,” said Robert Buxton, Director of the New Hampshire Department of Safety’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said in a news release. “Practice power outage safety. Never run a generator indoors. If you come across downed wires, stay away and call 911.”

The state urged people to report power outages to their utility provider every 24 hours until it is restored:

Eversource                                          1-800-662-7764

Liberty Utilities                  1-855-349-9455

NH Electric Co-op                             1-800-343-6432

Unitil                                                     1-888-301-7700

Buxton makes the following safety recommendations:

• Stay informed by signing up for NH Alerts and monitoring National Weather Service radio or broadcast weather reports.
• Drivers should use extra caution, go slow and be alert for crews clearing debris.
• Use flashlights, rather than candles, for emergency lighting.
• Only use a generator that has been wired to the house electrical service by a professional electrician.
• Never run a generator inside a building or in an enclosed space.

Learn more about power outage safety at ReadyNH.gov.